Declared States of Emergency
This page lists the declared States of Emergency since 2002. Note: not all emergencies have had a state of emergency declared.
Declaring a state of emergency is a critical part of New Zealand’s response arrangements. It is the declaration of a state of emergency that provides Controllers and others with extra-ordinary powers designed to deliver an effective and swift response.
More detail about states of local emergency, and some useful tools, are available here, under the heading 'Emergency Declarations and Powers'.
Year | Region | Hazard Type | Locality | Start Date | End Date | Declared Days | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 |
Waikato |
Flooding |
Putararu & Tirau Wards |
21/06/2002 |
23/06/2002 |
2 |
"Weather Bomb", water supply issues, road closures, no evacuations |
2002 |
Waikato |
Flooding |
District |
21/06/2002 |
23/06/2002 |
2 |
Up-scaled to District SOE, 1 death, evacuations required |
2003 |
Wellington |
Flooding |
District |
4/10/2003 |
9/10/2003 |
5 |
Damage to Paekakariki, evacuations required, duration of SOE due to clean-up |
2004 |
Marlborough |
Flooding |
Picton Ward |
17/02/2004 |
18/02/2004 |
1 |
Evacuations due to fear of landslip-induced dam break |
2004 |
Manawatu-Wanganui |
Flooding |
District |
16/02/2004 |
17/02/2004 |
1 |
Up-scaled to Regional SOE |
2005 |
Manawatu-Wanganui |
Flooding |
Marton Ward |
16/02/2004 |
17/02/2004 |
1 |
Up-scaled to Regional SOE |
2004 |
Manawatu-Wanganui |
Flooding |
Region |
17/02/2004 |
25/02/2004 |
8 |
"Weather Bomb", infrastructure disruptions, evacuations required |
2004 |
Taranaki |
Flooding |
Patea Ward |
17/02/2004 |
27/02/2004 |
10 |
Water supply issues, road closures, evacuations required |
2004 |
Bay of Plenty |
Flooding |
Waiotahi Ward |
17/07/2004 |
23/07/2004 |
6 |
Road closures, 1 death, evacuations required |
2004 |
Bay of Plenty |
Flooding |
Whakatane Ward |
17/07/2004 |
30/07/2004 |
13 |
Infrastructure disruptions, 1 death, evacuations required |
2005 |
Bay of Plenty |
Landslides |
Edgecumbe-Tarawera Ward |
17/05/2005 |
30/05/2005 |
13 |
Matata township damage due to debris flows |
2005 |
Bay of Plenty |
Landslides |
Tauranga |
18/05/2005 |
19/05/2005 |
1 |
Evacuations required, formally declared (?) |
2006 |
Manawatu-Wanganui |
Flooding |
Region |
7/07/2006 |
8/07/2006 |
1 |
SOE declared overnight to enforce evacuations |
2007 |
Taranaki |
Tornado |
Region |
5/07/2007 |
7/07/2007 |
2 |
Dwelling and property damage |
2007 |
Northland |
Flooding |
District |
10/07/2007 |
13/07/2007 |
3 |
Far North District area, dwelling damage |
2007 |
Otago |
Flooding |
Milton Ward |
30/07/2007 |
31/07/2007 |
1 |
Localised township flooding, but SOE declared |
2007 |
Gisborne |
Earthquake |
Gisborne City |
21/12/2007 |
22/12/2007 |
1 |
Building damage and power supply issues |
2008 |
Marlborough |
Flooding |
Picton Ward |
30/07/2008 |
31/07/2008 |
1 |
SOE declared to assist Police with evacuations |
2009 |
Waikato |
Landslides |
Taupo Ward |
29/06/2009 |
30/06/2009 |
1 |
Village of Waihi evacuated |
2010 |
Canterbury |
Earthquake |
Region |
4/09/2010 |
15/09/2010 |
11 |
Dwelling and property damage, infrastructure damage |
2011 |
Canterbury |
Earthquake |
Christchurch City Council |
22/02/2011 |
23/02/2011 |
1 |
181 deaths, major infrastructure and dwelling and property damage. Terminated when national state of emergency declared. |
2011 |
Canterbury |
Earthquake |
National |
23/02/2011 |
30/04/2011 |
66 |
181 deaths, major infrastructure and dwelling and property damage |
2011 |
Hawkes Bay |
Flooding |
District |
28/04/2011 |
3/05/2011 |
5 |
Central Hawke's Bay District area |
2011 |
Nelson-Tasman |
Flooding |
District |
13/12/2011 |
28/12/2011 |
15 |
Dwelling damage, infrastructure damage, evacuations required |
2011 |
Canterbury |
Earthquake |
Region |
23/12/2011 |
24/12/2011 |
1 |
NCMC activated, but stood down shortly thereafter |
2012 |
Nil |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Mt Tongariro unrest; no SOE’s declared |
2013 |
Manawatu-Wanganui |
Flooding |
Whanganui Ward |
14/10/2013 |
15/10/2013 |
1 |
Whanganui river threat |
2014 |
Nil |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Auckland power outage; no SOE's declared |
2015 |
Chatham Islands |
Cyclone |
Chatham Islands |
16/03/2015 |
19/03/2015 |
3 |
Cyclone Pam and rural fires |
2015 |
Manawatu-Wanganui |
Flooding |
Rangitikei District |
20/06/2015 |
22/06/2015 |
2 |
Dwelling damage, road closures |
2015 |
Manawatu-Wanganui |
Flooding |
Whanganui District |
20/06/2015 |
02/07/2015 |
12 |
Largest ever recorded flood in the Wanganui District; Dwelling damage, infrastructure damage, evacuations required |
2015 |
Taranaki |
Flooding |
South Taranaki District |
20/06/2015 |
27/06/2015 |
7 |
Flooding in Waitotara township in South Taranaki; evacuations required |
2016 |
West Coast |
Flooding |
Westland District |
24/03/2016 |
25/03/2016 |
1 |
Waiho River flooding at Franz Josef township; water supply issues, tourism impacts (i.e. loss of revenue) |
2016 |
Canterbury |
Earthquake |
Region |
15/11/2016 |
06/12/2016 |
22 |
Kaikoura Earthquake |
2016 |
Kaikoura |
Earthquake |
District |
14/11/2016 |
15/11/2016 |
1 |
Kaikoura Earthquake |
2016 |
Hurunui |
Earthquake |
District |
14/11/2016 |
15/11/2016 |
1 |
Kaikoura Earthquake |
2016 |
Kaikoura |
Earthquake |
District |
06/12/2016 |
09/12/2016 |
4 |
Kaikoura Earthquake |
2016 |
Dunedin |
Earthquake |
Dunedin City |
14/11/2016 |
14/11/2016 |
1 |
Kaikoura Earthquake |
2017 |
Hawke's Bay |
Fire |
Hastings District |
13/02/2017 |
15/02/2017 |
3 |
Hawke's Bay fires |
2017 |
Canterbury |
Fire |
Christchurch & Selwyn |
15/02/2017 |
01/03/2017 |
15 |
Christchurch Port Hills fires |
2017 |
Manawatu-Wanganui |
Flooding |
Whanganui District |
04/04/2017 |
06/04/2017 |
3 |
Declared in advance of expected impacts from Ex Tropical Cyclone Debbie |
2017 |
Manawatu-Wanganui |
Flooding |
Rangitikei District |
04/04/2017 |
06/04/2017 |
3 |
Declared in advance of expected impacts from Ex Tropical Cyclone Debbie |
2017 |
Bay of Plenty |
Flooding |
Whakatane District |
06/04/2017 |
11/04/2017 |
6 |
Edgecumbe flooding. State of local emergency overriden by Bay of Plenty declaration on 11 April 2017. |
2017 |
Bay of Plenty |
Flooding |
Bay of Plenty |
11/04/2017 |
14/04/2017 |
4 |
Bay of Plenty CDEM Group declared a state of local emergency covering the whole Bay of Plenty area in anticipation of heavy rainfall. As per the CDEM Act, this state of local emergency overrides the previous, more limited state of emergency over Whakatane District. |
2017 |
Thames-Coromandel |
Severe weather |
Thames Coromandel District |
12/04/2017 |
14/04/2017 |
3 |
Declared in advance of expected landfall of Cyclone Cook |
2017 |
Whakatane |
Severe Weather |
Whakatane District |
14/04/2017 |
21/04/2017 |
7 |
Local state of emergency declared for the Whakatane District to enable the continued response to Edgecumbe and the surrounding areas. |
2017 |
Otago |
Flooding |
Dunedin City |
21/07/2017 |
21/07/2017 |
1 |
State of local emergency overridden by Group declaration on 21 July 2017. |
2017 |
Otago |
Flooding |
Clutha District |
21/07/2017 |
21/07/2017 |
1 |
State of local emergency overridden by Group declaration on 21 July 2017. |
2017 |
Otago |
Flooding |
Waitaki District |
21/07/2017 |
21/07/2017 |
1 |
State of local emergency overridden by Group declaration on 21 July 2017. |
2017 |
Otago |
Flooding |
Waitaki, Clutha and Dunedin City |
21/07/2017 |
24/07/2017 |
4 |
Otago CDEM Group declaration for Waitaki, Clutha and Dunedin City. Declaration terminated on 24 July 2017 when local transition period came into force. |
2017 |
Canterbury |
Flooding |
Timaru District |
21/07/2017 |
22/07/2017 |
2 |
Flooding across district. |
2017 |
Canterbury |
Flooding |
Selwyn District |
21/07/2017 |
24/07/2017 |
4 |
Declaration owing to rising flood waters and the need to evacuate in Springs Ward. |
2017 |
Canterbury |
Flooding |
Christchurch City |
22/07/2017 |
25/07/2017 |
4 |
Declaration terminated on 25 July 2017 when local transition period came into force. |
2018 |
Otago |
Severe weather |
Dunedin City |
01/02/2018 |
02/02/2018 |
2 |
Declared in advance of expected landfall of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Fehi. |
2018 |
West Coast |
Severe weather |
Buller District |
01/02/2018 |
03/02/2018 |
3 |
Declared in advance of expected landfall of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Fehi. |
2018 |
Canterbury |
Severe weather |
Christchurch City |
20/02/2018 |
21/02/2018 |
2 |
Declared in advance of Cyclone Gita. |
2018 |
West Coast |
Severe weather |
Buller District |
20/02/2018 |
21/02/2018 |
2 |
Declaration owing to risk to life and households from Cyclone Gita |
2018 |
West Coast |
Severe weather |
Grey District |
20/02/2018 |
21/02/2018 |
2 |
Declaration owing to Cyclone Gita |
2018 |
Canterbury |
Severe weather |
Selwyn District |
20/02/2018 |
21/02/2018 |
2 |
Declaration owing to Cyclone Gita |
2018 |
Nelson-Tasman |
Severe weather |
Region |
20/02/2018 |
23/02/2018 |
4 |
Declaration owing to Cyclone Gita |
2018 |
West Coast |
Severe weather |
Westland District |
20/02/2018 |
21/02/2018 |
2 |
Declaration owing to Cyclone Gita |
2018 |
Taranaki |
Severe weather |
Region |
20/02/2018 |
21/02/2018 |
2 |
Declaration owing to Cyclone Gita. Group state of emergency terminated on 21/02/2018 and replaced by local state of emergency for New Plymouth |
2018 |
Taranaki |
Severe weather |
New Plymouth District |
21/02/2018 |
25/02/2018 |
5 |
Declaration owing to Cyclone Gita |
2018 |
Bay of Plenty |
Severe weather |
Ngongotaha, Rotorua District |
29/04/2018 |
06/05/2018 |
7 |
Declaration owing to extreme flooding event |
2019 |
Nelson-Tasman |
Fire |
Region |
06/02/2019 |
27/02/2019 | 21 |
Declaration owing to the effects of the Pigeon Valley Fire |
2019 |
West Coast |
Severe Weather |
Westland District |
26/03/2019 |
29/03/2019 | 4 |
Declaration owing to severe weather event |
2019 |
Canterbury |
Flooding |
Timaru District |
07/12/2019 |
Declaration owing to flooding in the Rangitata area |